{"id":3473,"date":"2025-06-26T11:04:03","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T11:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=3473"},"modified":"2025-06-26T11:04:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T11:04:04","slug":"bruce-springsteens-biggest-album-sold-30-million-copies-so-why-does-he-still-feel-disappointed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=3473","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen\u2019s biggest album sold 30 million copies \u2014 so why does he still feel disappointed?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bruce Springsteen\u2019s seventh album, Born in the U.S.A. <\/em>topped the charts in 12 different countries when it was released on June 4, 1984. Its success didn\u2019t stop there, either. Certified Platinum in just as many countries, including 17-times Platinum in the U.S. and New Zealand, it remains his best-selling album, with more than 30 million worldwide sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those figures mean it has outsold Dire Straits\u2019 Brothers in Arms<\/em>, the Beatles\u2019 Abbey Road<\/em>, and Pink Floyd\u2019s political-rock epic The Wall<\/em>. That\u2019s no mean feat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it may come as a surprise to learn that the American songwriter wasn\u2019t happy with the album he\u2019d created. Writing in the liner notes of Tracks II: The Lost Albums<\/em>, a new seven-disc compilation of unheard tracks written between 1983 and 2018, Springsteen says the record didn\u2019t \u201cconnect\u201d like its predecessors did. But its chart-obliterating success may point otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 41 years later, his sentiment hasn\u2019t changed despite its success, and he\u2019s justified his thinking in conversation with Rolling Stone<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a record I put out. It became the record I made, not necessarily the record that I was interested in making,\u201d he underscores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was interested in taking [it\u2019s 1982 predecessor<\/em>] Nebraska<\/em> and making a full record that had somewhat that same feeling. If you hear [the opening and closing tracks<\/em>] \u2018My Hometown\u2019 and \u2018Born in the U.S.A.,\u2019 they were sort of the bookends I intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe rest of the stuff was just what I had at the time. Those were the songs I wrote. Those were the songs I recorded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a contrast here between Springsteen\u2019s artistic vision and integrity, what resonated with him at that time, and what resonated with the listener. The fact that the record is one of the best-selling rock albums of the last 50 years hasn\u2019t diluted his feelings toward it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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